The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-06-18
TWO sPLEND1 SERMONS.
BY REV. j. Hoyr.
(Belle Plain Iowa.)

heard two splendid Iermons, one by
DIR. Thomas, in McV ker's theatre, in
the morning, and ondpy DR.. John Hall,
in the 41st st. PresbN erian church, in
the evening. DR.. Th1Enas contradicted
himself only once, bich was doing
well, when for an hod he poured out a
flood of thought an& feeling, which
thrilled the whole luse. DR.. Hall
worked in only one nspicuous piece
of folly, which wal doing wonder
fully well for a Prest terian.
DR.. Thomas preacLfd on the text:
"Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord; for they do rest kom their labors,
and their works do fdlow them" He
showed that the terri we use to ex-
press ideas of time arr space are rela-
tive. The dead are ot really dead;
they rest, and their ks follow them.
What we call death, only what ap-
pears such to the sensd We know that
whether living or dyng we are the
Lords; our life is sur1&unded by his in
finite life. We speak Of . past, we speak
of a future. What ha1 become of yes
terday? Is it gomez No. The past is
ours; we live in the pat az much as in
the present. The future Is also ours;
we live there. This b1ilding is bound
ed by certain streets; Wat space, by the
city limits; that, by county, state, con-
tinent, solar system, Universe. All time
belongs to unlimited d1Iation; all space
to unlimited space. in short, man
only appears to be limited either in
time or space; in reality he is child Of
eternity, citizen of tfH universe. All
life is inside of infnite3life; all evil in
side of infinite good. Splendid truths,
and enforced with al the eloquence
and spiritual power &or which DR..
Thomas is SO justly fai(sd.
But, by and by, he,y contradicted
himself. He is speaking of ''their
works 60 follow Them" Good works
do follow those who do good works;
evil works do follow those who do evil
works; we begin over there just where
we leave off here. Very good, substan-
TALLY the same conclusion, which, by a
little different process, reached twelve
years ago, and which I have been in
the habit of calling Universalism. Take
the ''ism" out, if you please, and these
are glorious, universal truths.
The good Doctor seemed to be just
little afraid that he had made an over
statement, for he is as remarkable for
his conscientiousness as for his kindness,
and he did not wish to give any en-
couragement to those who might be
disposed to persist in sinful life. So
he said that sin was terrible thing;
made great deal of unhappiness, and
the sad effects would linger for a long
time. Still he did not believe that an in
fnitely good God would permit any exis-
tence to be worse than non-existence;
that all active evil must sometime
cease to be, being overcome by the in
finite good of God, and yet he thought
many souls would suffer an ''eternal
loss;" would never enjoy or be what
they would have been if they had never
sinned. He struck a false note here,
fatty contradicted all the glorious uni
versal truths he had enunciated before.
He had then surrounded all life with
the infinite life; no such thing as death
in the universe; surrounded all evil by
the infinite good. No such thing as
unlimited evil in the universe.
Now it is a fat contradiction of all
this to say that any soul can suffer
eternal loss." Scientists taught, long
ago, that nothing is, or can be lost in
the material universe. Universalist
theologians have taught, for more than
a century, that nothing is, or can be
lost In the spiritual universe. God
launches souls just as he does worlds,
with an immense velocity and force up
on certain line, and no power in the
universe can take them off that line.
Human free-agency may be represented
by lateral lines upon which souls may
swing out as they will, all, however,
connected with the central line. Now,
let soul swing out as far as it pleases
upon one of these lateral lines; let it
wander millions and millions of miles
away in course Of sin and folly; God
is alway putting balance at the other
end of the line, of penalty, remorse,
what you will, so that the delicate
equipoise of the universe is never dis
turbed for one second by so much as a
hair line. By and by the soul becomes
conscious that it is off the line, penalty,
remOrse get in their work, the soul may
feel that it is in perfect hell of an
guish and despair, but the attraction of
Gods infinite love begins to draw the
soul back, and by and by it rushes with
comet speed, millions of miles a Sec
ond, toward the line, on the line, and
forever after, conscious that the Al